Negotiations in New Hampshire produced a pivotal test case for how home energy devices can reduce overall grid costs.
Liberty Utilities proposed a groundbreaking home battery pilot last year, in which the company would own 1,000 Tesla Powerwalls in customer homes. The customers would get backup power and a time-based retail rate; the utility would aggregate the batteries to reduce its costs for monthly and annual system peaks and to offset wires upgrades.
That concept triggered a debate among New Hampshire stakeholders about the appropriate limits of utility ownership in a competitive marketplace. Companies like Sunrun wanted industry to have a chance to participate and get time-of-use rates for their customers. And questions remained about the utility’s ability to forecast peaks and respond to them.
A settlement has emerged from those negotiations, signed November 15. Regulators held a hearing on it Thursday and will finalize their decision in the coming weeks.
The consensus document scales down Liberty’s proposal and institutes granular checkpoints it must clear to scale up. It also creates a “bring your own device” program that other companies can compete for.
Sunrun didn’t sign on, but declined to oppose the outcome. It all turned out amicably, without the bloodletting that ensued from the net-metering battles of yore.
“It shows where we’re at in 2018: A small state [and] small utility can submit a proposal for residential batteries that really moves the entire industry forward,” said Chris Rauscher, Sunrun’s public policy director for the Northeast. “We’re no longer in a cost conversation, we’re in a value conversation, and that’s exactly where we should be.”
Assuming nothing derails regulatory approval, New Hampshire could become the proving ground for several of the hottest topics in distributed energy policy.
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